Sunday, April 17, 2011

It's spring break here and I am so thankful! Already I finished my first sewing project. This is the Loes Hinse Swing Skirt long version. The fabric is a poly rayon blend (no lycra) and is super comfortable. I wore the skirt to church this morning and then out and about for the rest of the day, and it still feels great. Definitely a keeper. Both times I made this I ran short on fabric and on the brown skirt, I pieced the flounce to make it work. On the Blue skirt, I couldn't work out the flounce, so used a contrasting fabric for the back panel.

I am not happy with it. The fabric for the main part of the skirt is a really drapey textured rayon, and I haven't been able to find anything like it to use for the flounce. I may just take the flounce off and replace it with some lace. Right now it is just hanging on a hanger waiting for me to do something to it.

this pattern went together really quickly and easily. The waist treatment is typical of LH, and you serge the elastic directly to the fabric, turn it under, and stitch it down.

I am planning ahead for another trip to Uganda this summer. We will be doing something a little different this year. We are flying into Kampala and staying with a Ugandan minister and his wife for the first two nights. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, we will be working with a group of pastors' wives at a conference in Jinja. I'm not sure what we will be doing there, but I've been told that they are anxious for us to come. On Sunday morning, we will be driving out to the Villages and spend that whole week working in Busanna and Kasana. We have worked with these women before. This year we will be getting 2 women set up in their own sewing business and will be buying treadle sewing machines, fabric and notions to get them startedIn the mean time, we will be working with the other ladies teaching them embroidery and hand sewing techniques. Last year we only had two machines, so there were two ladies who wanted to do the sewing for everyone else, while everyone else wanted to just stay and watch. This was OK with them, but we want everyone to be able to participate, so with some hand sewing and especially colorful embroidery, everyone can be working at the same time. Hopefully this will be successful. As more details of our trip unfold, I will keep you posted. We are just starting our fundraising, so I will post information about that soon if you are interested in helping to support our ministry.